Advertising revenue from radio broadcast topped 1.828 billion yuan (about US$220 million) in the country last year, up 20.23 percent from the previous year, sources noted on Monday.

There are now 303 radio stations across China, big or small, which offer an average of 21,000 hours of broadcasting daily and programs broadcasted in a total of 43 languages, including 38 foreign languages, the Putonghua (the standard Chinese language) and four major dialects for overseas audience.

Radio broadcast, which used to be the principal form of news dissemination in China, suffered setbacks due to the rapid development of television and newspapers over the past few decades.

Nevertheless, radio broadcasting has gradually regained some of its vitality and popularity as its services have kept improving and become increasingly geared to the demands of different audience.

Economic development is the key factor that led to the continuous growth of radio advertising revenue. In coastal Zhejiang and Shandong provinces, both in east China, where economy is fairly developed, and in the national capital of Beijing, the growth of radio advertising revenue all exceeded 40 percent.

The Beijing Radio Broadcasting Station, for instance, earned 68million yuan (US$8.19 million) from ads attached to its traffic news reporting frequency service, which had hits an all-time high for the single frequency channel service.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2002)